From Afar
by neuxue
Summary: Mai watches from the rooftops as Zuko and Azula fight each other in the final Agni Kai, and Zuko takes lightning for Katara. Written for Day 12 of Zutara Month 2012: Mistake.


_**A/N**__: See here's the thing. We only see Mai after the fight is long over, but it is never explicitly stated, in canon, exactly when she was let out of prison. Therefore I'm calling this canon-compliant, and this is my headcanon for this scene._

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Mai uses her family's name to barter passage to the Fire Nation capitol, but the rumours she hears along the way warn her to be cautious. Azula is not herself, if the whispers are to be believed. Even quieter whispers say that Zuko plans to challenge her.

_He wouldn't be the first,_ she thinks, remembering the flicker of fear and betrayal in Azula's eyes, sparkling in the sun reflected off one of Mai's silver knives. No, Zuko would not be the first to challenge Azula, to threaten her. _But he could well be the last._

The thought comes unbidden to her mind and even she is unsure what to do with it. She spoke truly to Azula. Her love for Zuko is indeed greater than her fear of his sister. But love is a strange thing, and Azula always was her first, though Mai never said a word. She knew, even years ago, that it was impossible.

And Zuko was kind where Azula was cruel, honest where his sister was cunning. In time she grew to love him, and to present the mask of perfect loyal friendship – and nothing more – to Azula.

They may only be whispers, but the closer she draws to the capitol city, the harder it becomes to keep the images from flooding her mind. She can hardly bear to imagine Zuko falling to his sister. And yet the only alternative is Azula's defeat. She thinks of the scar on Zuko's face, and wonders if he will take mercy on his family, wonders what form that mercy might take.

Mostly she tries not to think.

It is dusk when she reaches the city, and even at the outskirts it seems eerily quiet. Thinking it best to stay hidden, she makes her way through side streets and alleyways, and eventually climbs up onto the rooftops as she nears the city centre.

There, she sees that the whispers were true. Zuko and Azula face each other, and she hears Azula's shouted challenge to an Agni Kai. _How many is that now, Zuko? Two? Three? _Two against his own family. She wonders if he will be scarred by this one too. _If he survives._

Then the world catches fire, or so it seems from her vantage point. She can hardly make out either Zuko or Azula amidst the towering flames of blue and orange. She has heard the firebenders talking of the power the comet brings, but she had never truly believed it until now. The flames are at once beautiful and terrible to behold, brightly burning and barely controlled as brother and sister fight fire with fire.

One of them, she knows, is relishing in this battle. The other…she cannot get a good look at Zuko's face, not with the flames obscuring everything, but she hardly needs to.

And then she sees the waterbender girl, standing unmoving beside a pillar, following the battle with nervous eyes. She's seen the girl – was it Katara? – fightning before, and knows immediately why she is there. And also why Zuko is fighting Azula alone.

_Oh Zuko,_ she thinks, remembering an apple on her head, a younger Zuko pushing her into the fountain,_ you always did try to protect the ones you loved._ But he can't protect them both this time, and the pain of that fact is written in the set of his face, in his every move. He loves his sister – _why, Zuko? Why do you insist on loving her, on loving all of them?_ – but he will do what he knows he must. And he will do anything to protect Katara.

Azula sees it too, and Mai knows exactly what she is going to do. Her thoughts flick again to the burning apple on her head, to all the threats and taunts and 'games' Azula used to play.

Mai sees Zuko throw himself in the path of the lightning, hears the cry tear from his lips, and knows that this time she miscalculated. Zuko loves Katara far more than he could ever love her.

As the waterbender rushes forward, anguish and fury warring in her face, Mai turns away, running across the rooftops before dropping down to the narrow streets at the edge of the city. It doesn't matter how it ends, it doesn't matter who wins now. It is a game in which, she now knows, she was hardly even a contender.

She never tells Zuko that she saw, that she knows. When they kiss, she tries to make him smile, tries to laugh, tries to lighten the mood when all she feels is numbness, and all she can see is the look in his eyes when Azula's lightning struck, a look that was never meant for her.


End file.
